The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will be hearing oral arguments in Kohler v. Englade on September 7. The case involves a DNA dragnet, in which police demanded that over 1,200 men provide DNA samples in an investigation. When Shannon Kohler, one of the men caught in the dragnet, refused to give a sample, police obtained a warrant to seize a sample and notified the media that Kohler was a suspect in a series of rapes and murders. The police later cleared Kohler as a suspect in the investigation. Kohler then filed suit against the police department, alleging violations of his Fourth Amendment rights. Kohler asked for his DNA profile to be removed from any state or federal database and has requested damages for the invasion of his privacy. After a district court ruled against him, Kohler appealed to the Fifth Circuit. EPIC has filed a "friend of the court" brief (
http://www.epic.org/privacy/kohler/amicus.pdf ) highlighting the ineffectiveness of DNA dragnets, as well as the constitutional violations they create. EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg will be arguing before the court in support of Kohler's position. (Sep 5, 2006)
